However, in 1980's the Church's official attitude changed, the conservative Pope John Paul II condemned the LT as being akin to Marxism.

However, LT played an important part in resisting dictatorship & bringing about democracy in Latin America.

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Millenarian Movements

An example of the desire to change things here and now, to bring about the kingdom of God on earth. Worsley - they expect the total and imminent transformation of this world by supernatural means, creating heaven on earth.

They appeal mainly to the poor b/c they promise immediate improvement, & they often arise in colonial situations.

European colonialism shattered the traditional tribal social structures & cultures of the colonised peoples.

Worsley studied the cargo cults - millenarian movements in Melanesia, where islanders felt deprived when 'cargo' arrived in the islands for the colonists.

Cargo cults asserted that the cargo had been meant for the natives but had been diverted by the whites for themselves, & that this was about to be overturned.

These movements often led to widespread unrest.

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Gramsci: religion & hegemony

GRAMSCI

Interested in how ruling class maintain their control over society through ideas rather than simply through coercion (force).

Hegemony - ideological domination or leadership of society - is the way that the ruling class are able to use ideas such as religion to maintain control.

Eg, in Italy in the 20/30s, the conservative ideological power of the Catholic Church helped to win support for the facist regime.

However, in some circumastances religion can challenge the ruling class.

Eg, it may help the w/c to see through the ruling-class hegemony & some clergy may act as organic intellectuals - leaders who can support working class organisations.

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Religion & Class Conflict

Billings - applies Gramsci's ideas in a case study comparing class struggle in two communities - coalminers & textile workers - in Kentucky in the 20s and 30s. Both were w/c & evangelical Protestant, but the miners were much more militant, struggling for better conditions.

The differences in levels of militancy can be understood in terms of hegemony & the role of religion.

The miners benefited from the leadership of organic intellectuals - miners who were also lay preachers.

He shows that the same religion - evangelical Protestant - can be called upon either to defend the status quo or support and justify the struggle to change it.